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For the validation of SCIAMACHY trace gas vertical profiles derived from limb and occultation measurements three payloads are proposed to fly on large stratospheric balloons:

• The LPMA/DOAS payload contains a DOAS instrument providing stratospheric profiles of O₃, NO₂, BrO, and OClO. The DOAS instrument is flown together with the Limb Profile Monitor of the Atmosphere (LPMA) operated by Laboratoire de Physique Moléculaire et Applications/CNRS (France). The LPMA is an FTIR instrument providing stratospheric profiles of CO, CH₄, N₂O, O₃, NO₂, H₂O, and CO₂. As a novelty it is planned to provide the LPMA and DOAS instruments with an absolute radiometric calibration before and after each flight. This will allow to extrapolate the zero-airmass solar irradiance from measurements performed at different solar zenith angles using the Langley-plot method.

• MIPAS-B is an advanced cryogenic limb emission FTIR spectrometer providing stratospheric profiles of O₃, H₂O, CH₄, N₂O, NO₂, ClO, temperature, and pressure.

  For more information about MIPAS-B click here.

• The TRIPLE payload comprises the following in-situ instruments: cryogenic whole air sampler, Lyman-alpha fluorescence hygrometer, and ClO/BrO resonance fluorescence sensor. In addition, a tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer providing in-situ measurements of H₂O and CH₄ shall fly piggy-back on the TRIPLE gondola.